Tara Littlehailes, an Economics major at UC Berkeley, is spending the 2025–26 academic year at the London School of Economics (LSE). Originally from Southern California, Tara has been financially independent since she was sixteen. She earned her GED, enrolled in community college early, and transferred to Berkeley after three years, all while working full-time. Her academic interests center on the intersection of economics and social outcomes: how financial systems shape opportunity, how policy affects lived experience, and how fairness is constructed and contested. LSE offers her a chance to explore these questions from a global perspective. Tara loves writing, deep conversations, and rainy days. Though she lived briefly in London as a child, this is her first time living abroad on her own. She looks forward to a year that will push her, broaden her worldview, and shape the person she is becoming.